Marzetti Foodservice extends into multiple areas of the foodservice industry, which means we have a story for every situation. Many are entertaining, but, most importantly, many more are relatable to other professionals. There are teachable moments, valuable information and stories that are truly unique to our industry.
On the Front Line
Our Director of Foodservice Marketing exemplifies a recurring theme throughout the years. Marzetti strives to provide solutions and partner with customers, not simply sell products. Trying to understand a customer’s day-to-day operations and issues is part of that solution focus.
To learn more about a company’s business, a three-person team from Marzetti Foodservice Sales and R&D Departments offered to work for a day at one location of a national restaurant chain. The Marzetti team worked in the kitchen on the line preparing food and serving guests.
That experience alone gave the Marzetti team a first-hand understanding of the restaurant’s menu, challenges needing to be addressed and new ideas to benefit the chain and make guests happy.
Sometimes on-site experience is the greatest source of inspiration. It shows that knowing your partners through experience versus conversation helps our partners and our understanding of their day-to-day needs.
Who Needs Instructions
Stories aren’t limited to restaurants! A Marzetti Foodservice Sales Manager was managing the booth at a food show when he recognized a customer who had purchased pasta Marzetti Frozen Pasta from him at the previous year’s event.
She was with a group from her restaurant and stopped to chat while her staff kept moving. She mentioned they had been using our precooked pasta since last year and asked him to do the pasta demonstration again. He thanked her for her business and curiously asked the reason for another demonstration.
She replied it was much better at the show than when her staff was preparing it. So he did his 30-second demonstration and told her how it was 30 seconds from the freezer to serving.
The woman paused, and then asked “30 seconds?” To which he replied, “Yes.”
Immediately she called her staff over and wanted him to show them the same 30 second demonstration.
Then she looked at her staff and said, “See! I told you it’s 30 seconds!”
Building Advocates
A small caterer from New England wanted Marzetti Frozen Pasta for a Mac and Cheese item at the State Fair.
He searched distributor after distributor on the East Coast and no one would bring it in. Being so sold on the product, he kept telling us how it was so convenient and cooked right every time. He loved how he could make the product on the spot with no labor or waste issues, but he couldn’t get it on the East Coast.
We worked with him to secure the product, but did have to manage a couple snags along the way. He had a cash business with little credit terms, so we worked out a pre-pay in order to purchase the product.
The next issue was the trucking company’s inability to deliver to his street. We solved the issue by delivering to a local business with a loading dock where he was able to take the product by van to his freezer.
The caterer called recently with his third order stating again how Marzetti takes care of “the little guy” and no customer is too small. The attention spent on one customer built a long term relationship and created an extremely valuable partner for our business.
Building one customer at a time is part of our plan for long-term success.
Employee morale is one of the most critical factors for any business’ success because it ties into all aspects of the business. Low employee morale can impact food prep quality, customer service and the overall customer experience. Inversely, high employee morale leads to employees who care more about where your organization is going and your guests.
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